It must be summer, because apparently I have some time on my hands.  I’ve been having a lot of fun decorating around my house lately, so I decided to swap out my mantle decor for a summer look.  (By the way, have you ever noticed how mantle and mantel are both used when describing that ledge above the fireplace?  Well, Google says that you can use either spelling of the word.  If Google says it’s true, then I’ll believe it.  Everything you read online is true. Right?)  Anyway, I don’t change my mantel-mantle decor too often.  I usually stick with the same candle holders and antique books year-round. I’m kind of linking this beachy theme though!

I shopped the house for this look.

Well, actually I shopped the garage.  Since I’m moving schools this summer, all of my teacher stuff is packing into my 3 car garage.  Lucky for me, I have absolutely everything that I have ever hoarded collected!  Ya know those shells that you collected when you were 5 and your mom said, “Why are you saving those?  When will you ever need them again?”  Well, I still have all of those shells.  Not only that, but I add to my collection every year!

Every year, when we go to Seaside, I add a few more shells to my collection.  I store those in a box labeled “good shells” as opposed to the other box that is filled with all of those shells I collected in my younger years.  The good shells made it onto the display, along with those neat glass jars (below).  Won’t those look pretty with a few strands of beachy looking grass poking out of them?  The jars were from my son’s antibiotics after having his tonsils removed a few years ago.  Did I mention that I may have some hoarding tendencies?

I love this big shell!  My mom brought it home from her honeymoon, many years ago.  She let me have it to add to my collection.  Does that make her an enabler?  You know… the whole hoarding thing???

I always brought back shells, from Seaside, for my kindergarten teacher friends’  collections too.  Boy, am I going to miss those ladies!  Maybe I’ll make new friends, at my new school, who like collecting shells too.

The shells that are stored in the other box – not the one labeled “good shells” -earned a spot in the glass jar. They aren’t as pretty, but they are nice vase fillers.   

I’ll share a few more beachy spots in my house soon.  Until then, happy shell collecting!!!

(I’m really not a hoarder!)